Press digest

The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press today. The local press is dominated by the presentation of the Budget yesterday:

The Times says this was a Budget for economic growth.

The Malta Independent says the Budget was aimed at revitalizing the economy.

In-Nazzjon says this was a Budget for jobs and investment.

l-orizzont says the Budget left the people waiting. It quotes PL leader Joseph Muscat saying that the Finance Minister had not told the people what mattered most - how much the power tariffs would rise, It also says that it is not known whether the case where a woman fell down a shaft and died yesterday was an accident or homicide.

The Press in Britain...

The Guardian quotes a whistleblower at the UN International Energy Agency revealing that the world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit.

A poll commissioned by The Times has found people are more optimistic about the economy than at any time for the past 18 months.

The Independent reports that Government plans to store information about every phone call, email and internet visit in the UK have been delayed until after the election.

The Daily Telegraph claims the state is planning to press ahead with the surveillance, despite a consultation showing it had little public support.

The Sun follows up the story of the dead soldier's mother who was angered after Gordon Brown allegedly misspelt her son's name in a hand-written condolence letter.

The Daily Mail says 10 nuclear power-plants will be built under a fast-track planning system.

The Financial Times reports Kraft left open the door to raising its hostile £9.8 billion offer for Cadbury, refusing to rule out a higher bid.

The Daily Express looks at a group of call centre workers and a married couple have jointly won Britain's largest ever lottery prize.

The Scotsman reports hundreds of Scottish patients will be able to benefit from expensive new drugs after a groundbreaking deal between the NHS and pharmaceutical companies.

The Herald says all staff over the age of 50 at Glasgow City Council is to be offered redundancy deals as it looks to reduce costs and cut up to 4,000 jobs.

Metro looks at the case of an executive who claimed that her millionaire boss brought high-class prostitutes to business meetings.

According to the Daily Star, Katie Price, aka Jordan, had a secret date with Peter Andre before flying out to the jungle for ITV1's "I'm A Celebrity".

An X-Factor storm provides the Daily Mirror lead, with the tabloid reporting on a "huge public backlash" against Simon Cowell's decision to keep John and Edward in the show.

And elsewhere...

World leaders past and present have gathered in Germany to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Berliner Morgenpost reports that thousands of cheering Germans re-enacted the electrifying moment the Berlin Wall came crashing down by toppling 1,000 graffiti-adorned two-metre-tall dominoes that tumbled along the route of the now vanished Cold War icon, celebrating 20 years of freedom from separation and fear.

The Wall Street Journal Europe says the spectacle, billed by organisers as a metaphor for the way the real wall came down and the resulting fall of communist countries in eastern Europe, was one of several events to mark the anniversary and celebrate the profound change it had not only in Germany, but Europe and the world.

Berliner Zeitung quotes Chancellor Angela Merkel, the first east German to hold the job, calling the fall of the wall an "epic" moment in history. Earlier, Mrs Merkel and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev walked through a former Berlin Wall border crossing where hundreds of euphoric East Germans had rushed past 20 years ago. She lauded Mr Gorbachev, saying: "We always knew that something had to happen there so that more could change here."

The Washington Times says Isreali Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left the White House on Monday after spending an hour and forty minutes inside, emerging without US President Barack Obama. It says it is unusual for the US president not to publicly appear, even briefly, with a visiting foreign leader. The tense atmosphere surrounding the talks appeared to underscore frictions between the two allies as US efforts to revive Middle East peace talks flounder.

Ahead of the meeting, Mr Netanyahu told The Jerusalem Post he was ready to immediately engage in peace negotiations, but prospects of renewed talks appear dimmer than ever.

The International Herald Tribune says Iran has charged three American adventure tourists with spying after they were caught straying across the border from Iraq.

Bild quotes UN atomic watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei saying UN insepctors found "nothing to be worried about" during their first inspection of a previously secret uranium enrichment site in Iran.

China Daily reports that nine Uighurs have been executed for taking part in ethnic rioting that left nearly 200 people dead in July.

Variety says John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono and his sons have agreed to donate all proceeds from downloads of the hit single Give Peace a Chance to UN peace initiatives.

Quoting an analysis by South Korean and US intelligence authorities, Seoul's Chosun Ilbo reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, known for shunning air travel, has six luxurious special trains equipped with conference halls and high-tech communication facilities. There are also 19 stations across North Korea exclusively for Kim's trains, which have a total of some 90 carriages.